The present invention relates generally to insulation. More specifically, the present invention pertains to methods of carrying, dispensing and cutting insulation. The present invention is particularly, though not exclusively, useful for cutting lengths from rolled sheets of insulation having insulative material on a foil backing, and scoring a portion of the insulative material for removal from the foil, using dual rotary knives.
Insulation for insulating buildings may be supplied in sheet form consisting of a thick fibrous insulative layer (or xe2x80x9cfiberxe2x80x9d) adherent to a thin flexible backing or substrate such as foil or paper. Such sheets of insulation may be about six feet wide, and may be supplied in cylindrical rolls weighing about fifty-pounds. Such a roll may be mounted on a dispenser such that the roll may turn freely upon its cylindrical axis, so that the insulation can be easily dispensed from the roll. The dispenser may have wheels, such as a dolly, so that the roll may be ported. The dispenser may be equipped with a cutting blade or blades for cutting pieces of insulation from the roll.
When insulating a surface, separate pieces of insulation may be joined edge to edge to cover the surface. To join pieces having foil backing, the fiber may be removed from the foil in a strip, along the edge to be joined of one piece, wide enough to allow the foil from which the fiber has been removed, to overlap the foil of the other piece and abut the fiber of the one piece with the fiber of the other piece. The width of the strip may be around 1.5 inches. The overlapping foil is then taped to the foil of the adjoining piece so that there are no gaps in the joined foil, which gaps might reduce the effectiveness of the insulation.
To remove the fiber from the foil in the strip, the fiber is cut, without cutting the foil, along the perimeter of the strip. Then the fiber is peeled from the foil. Such cutting of the fiber without cutting the foil may be referred to as xe2x80x9cscoringxe2x80x9d the fiber. The fiber may be scored manually or otherwise, after a piece is cut from a roll. The score is often made parallel to the cut edge. However, manual scoring may produce an uneven score, making the abutment of the fibers of the two pieces uneven. Also, manual scoring may result in a score that is too deep, in which case the foil may be cut; or a score may not be deep enough, in which case the fiber may be more difficult to remove.
While some insulation dispensers incorporate blades for cutting pieces of insulation from a roll, there has not been a device that simultaneously cuts the insulation and scores the fiber. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that carries a roll of insulation, dispenses insulation from the roll, cuts pieces of insulation, and simultaneously scores the fiber parallel to the cut edge and at an optimal depth.
The present invention provides a two-wheel dolly, fashioned after dollies designed to accommodate and carry 55 gallon drums, adapted to carry a fifty-pound roll of insulation. The dolly has a carriage in the shape of a cylindrical section and sized to accept a fifty-pound roll of insulation. The dolly has wheels at one end of the carriage, and handles at the other end that double as legs for stationing the dolly for dispensing of insulation from the roll. In the bottom and sides of the carriage are rollers upon which the roll may rotate such that the insulation can be easily pulled from the roll. Alongside the carriage is a cutting plate over which the insulation can be drawn to a point to be cut and scored. Two parallel circular blades are drawn along the cutting plate. One blade cuts the insulation, and the other scores the fiber in a narrow strip along the cut edge. An advantage of this invention is that it scores the fiber simultaneously with the cutting of the piece, thus eliminating the need to score the fiber separately after cutting the piece. Another advantage is that because the blades are parallel and set at the right height, the scoring is ensured to be at the right depth, even and parallel to the cut edge.